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Braid
Braid is a platformer puzzle game by Jonathan Blow, released in 2008. It won the 2006 IGF Excellence in Design award. Hothead Games ported the game to Mac and PSN. Gameplay Braid is a puzzle game where you control the character 'Tim'. The most obvious unique feature of this game is the ability to rewind time, making it impossible to die, or make irreversible mistakes (though there are exceptions). The game is made up of six worlds, each with their own time-based game mechanic complementing the basic time reversal mechanic: *The first world (World 2) introduces the concept and mechanic of time reversal. *The second world (World 3) introduces objects immune to time manipulation. *In the third world (World 4), time moves forward and backward based on your horizontal position in the level. *The fourth world (World 5) introduces a "shadow" Tim that repeats the actions of the Tim in the previous time iteration. *The fifth world (World 6) introduces a ring (positioned by the player) that causes time to move slower for objects close to it. *The sixth and final world (World 1) has time moving backward, which causes the rewind ability to make time move forward. Each world has two objectives: firstly, traverse all the levels in the world; and secondly, collect all the puzzle pieces scattered through the world, and assemble them into a coherent scene. Each world has a linear set of levels, but you do not have to beat any level section or puzzle (except for the bosses) upon first encountering it, and can try again later. Even though each world has a different time warp mechanic, the abilities are static within each world, and so it is possible to do each puzzle with the abilities you have when you first see it (though one puzzle requires you to return to it later). It's also possible to find 8 hidden stars, which are incredibly difficult to obtain. Trivia *During development, before finding David Hellman, Jonathan Blow went through 30 to 35 artists. Next Gen Player interview with Jonathan Blow. Among these was Edmund McMillen, who designed the appearance of Tim. Super Mario Bros was referenced because of its simplicity and recognition in game culture: *The basic narrative of the game concerns Tim's efforts to rescue a Princess. *"The princess is in another castle", spoken by a guardian at the end of each world. *Piranha Plant-analogues coming from pipes, Goomba-analogues that you can bounce on. *One level in World 3 has a puzzle whose basic layout is clearly based on the original Donkey Kong game. *The aforementioned level is titled "Jumpman", Mario's original name. *The game was conceived for the Experimental Gameplay Workshop of 2005, but not completed until 2008. Experimental Gameplay Workshop 2005 entries *Tim, the game's protagonist, will be a playable character in the game Super Meat Boy. Influences include: *Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities (book) *Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams (book) *Elevator Action *Dino Eggs *Trinity "...because I didnt have to communicate with myself, I just knew, and I just saw and I could do things" Videos References External links * Braid Website * David Hellman describing the development process behind the art of Braid *Indiegamer.com interview with Edmund McMillen, featuring conceptual artwork for Tim, Braid's protagonist Category:IGF winners Category:Games Category:Mac games Category:2008 games Category:Indie games on Steam Category:puzzle Category:timeshifting Category:narrative Category:pensive Category:Platformers Category:PSN games Category:Sadlet Category:XBLA games